New Research Reveals That Bullying in the Workplace Is On the Rise

Almost everyone has encountered that one co-worker who would rather spend every ticking second of an eight-hour workday telling you how to do your job rather that minding their own business and focusing on their own work.

That person is called the workplace bully, and according to new research, he is rearing its ugly head in the workplace with fierce intensity these days and becoming more of a pain in the you know what.

According to research conducted by CareerBuilder, 35 percent of employees have experienced bullying in the workplace, which is up from 27 percent a year ago. Many of those people (16 percent) even suffered from health-related issues because of these bullies — 17 percent quit their jobs to escape it.

So, what constitutes bullying in the workplace?

How about being constantly criticized for the work you do, being yelled at in front of co-workers, being picked on for the way you dress and having belittling comments made about you during work meetings?

The study, which is based on surveys of about 3,900 full-time US employees, found that most situations involving bullying took place between workers and their bosses or co-workers, while some say they have even been harassed by customers and higher-ups in the company.

What’s worse is that more than half of those surveyed say they allow their tormentors to get away with bullying by not confronting or reporting them. Out of the workers who did claim to try to stop their bully, 11 percent say that it only got worse.